An eight-year-old Dalit boy was beaten to death and his 14-year-old sister and mother were grievously injured in an alleged attempt to rape the school girl on Thursday, February 22 in Villupuram, according to The New Indian Express.This incident seems to be the third caste-based violent since January within Arakanda­nallur police station li­­­m­its.

What happened?

As per The New Indian Express report, Nalini (name changed), a widow, was living with her two minor children in a house ne­ar a farm plot in Vellamp­uthur village. The boy studied in class VI, while the girl studied in class VIII. Her other four children work as labourers in Bengaluru and Tirupur after their father died.

The incident came to light early on Thursday. People who were passing by the house heard moans coming from inside. When they intervened, they found the lifeless body of the eight-year-old boy. In the same room, the mother and the girl were also present. They were gravely injured. The girl was found without her clothes which led to the suspicion that there might have been attempts of rape on her.

A police team from the Arakandanallur station, he­aded by inspectors Jeyavel and Rathinasabapathi are probing the case. Inspector Jeyaval told The New Indian Express that there was an attempt of rape on the girl, although she resisted it.

When The Logical Indian contacted Inspector Jeyaval, he said that the boy’s body has been sent for autopsy. The mother and the sister are getting treatment in JIPMER Hospital, Pondicherry. He also mentioned that they are in a better situation today than when they were found. Inspector Jeyaval added that investigations are going on to assert whether the crime has any casteist angle to it. An NGO that is in the village conducting research on caste strife said that the girl needed 12 stitches on her private parts.

Not an isolated incident

On January 1, the bodies of three Dalit youths were found lying near Vasanthakrishnapuram Dalit colony, with identical marks above their left ear. One of the boys, as reported by The New Indian Express, was in love with a Caste Hindu girl.

On February 2, a mob of Caste Hindu men armed with logs and sugarcane scythes vandalised 22 houses in a Dalit colony near the same area. They sawed a puppy in half and hung it on a wall. With the puppy’s blood, they wrote on the wall that it should serve as a warning to them.

The incidents took place 10 kms from each other.

The Logical Indian take

Dalits face rampant discrimination of different levels in the country. The National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) reports a 44% increase in violence against Dalits, up from 32,712 in 2010 to 47,064 crimes in 2014. These incidents are directed to remind Dalits about their “status” in a caste-based social structure and ensuring that they remain there.

Where on the one hand we want to prove to ourselves and the world that we live in is progressive in thought, our actions betray this idea. We request authorities to take strict action against the guilty and hope that the victim’s family finds justice.